Photo credit: Adam Lucio
At approximately 3:17 p.m. Tuesday, the National Weather Service Quad Cities office issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for southern Washington and Keokuk counties in the KCII listening area. Additional Thunderstorm Warnings included portions of Iowa, Johnson, Louisa, and Henry counties. Spotter indicated threats with these storms included 55 mile-per-hour winds and one-inch hail leading to tree damage in North English in Iowa County. Spotters also indicated one-inch hail in Frytown in Johnson County and Kalona in Washington County.
At 4:13 p.m. the National Weather Service Quad Cities office issued a Tornado Warning for Henry County. Further Tornado Warnings inlcuded Des Moines and Louisa counties. Weather spotters confirmed a tornado on the ground in Salem, New London, and Yarmouth in Henry County. At 4:34 p.m. trained weather spotters indicated major home damage near Jewell Avenue and Salem Road in Henry County. All warnings expired in the listening area at approximately 5:30 p.m.
Four members of the KCII Severe Weather Action Team provided live coverage on the air. Had the power gone out, coverage would have continued with KCII’s back-up generators. The one to count on for up-to-the-minute severe weather coverage is KCII.